Matchbook and extinguisher



Dec. 6, 1960 J. L. FLEGLE MATcHBoox AND EXTINGUISHER Filed Jan. '7. 1959 3. flu. F

inv/Pfam,

MA'rcHBooK AND EX'rnsGInsHER Jack Leslie Flegle, `41 Fair Oaks, Ladue, Mo.

Filed Jan. 1, 1959, ser. No. 785,430 H2 claims. (cl. 1311-256) This invention concerns matchbooks, and more particu- UHIC States Patent larlymatchbooks of the type `havingga portiony which l serves both as additional advertising space and as a snuifer for cigarettes.

Various devices have been proposed in the past for attachment to matchbooks for the purpose of holding and/or snufng out cigarettes. All of these devices have had one or more disadvantages. For one, many of the prior art devices have been formed of metal and therefore were expensive and could not be produced as a part of the matchbook itself. For another, the snufling attachments of the prior art held the cigarette in a rmly wedged relationship with the device, so that it was difficult to withdraw the cigarette, particularly if the butt was rather short. Also, the metal snuifer had a tendency to get quite hot, metal being -a good conductor of heat, so as to be likely to cause injury rto the user.

My invention overcomes all these diiculties by providing a snung tube -at the narrow lower end of the matchbook which may be integrally formed with the matchbook cover itself and is closed at one end by a plug of cardboard or other material, or by other means. Further advantages of my invention will be readily appreciated from an inspection of the drawings in which:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a matchbook constructed according to my invention;

Figure 2 is a partial vertical section of the matchbook, in the process of snung a cigarette; and

Figure 3 is a section along line 3-3 of Figure 2.

Basically, my invention consists in providing a cylindrical or quasi-cylindrical tube, of a diameter but slightly greater than that of a cigarette, at the narrow end of a matchbook remote from the sensitive ends of the matches. The tube may be formed by merely bending the lower end of the matchbook cover -around a mandrel so as to form a tubular bulge therein before stapling it to the match pad. After the tube has been thus formed, a circular plug or disc of cardboard or other material is inserted in one end of the tube to substantially close it against the inux of air, and also to give it suiicient rigidity to retain its shape to -a reasonable extent for the life of the matchbook. An airtight seal is not necessary between the plug and tube, so that the insertion of the plug presents no lspecial manufacturing problems. A cigarette may be snuifed by turning the matchbook on its side, with the closed end pointing down, and dropping the cigarette into the opening off the tube. The combustion products of the cigarette (mainly carbon dioxide) accumulate rapidly near the closed end of the tube and snutf the cigarette due to lack of oxygen in a matter of a few seconds. In fact, the snuiing process is so fast that the inside of the snuing tube does not Scorch even though the lighted end of the cigarette rests against it. Consequently, and because of the poor heat conductivity of cardboard, the outside of the snu'ing tube barely has time to get lukewarm, so that any chance of injury to the user is effectively prevented. Inasmuch as the diameter of the snung tube is somewhat greater than that of the cigarette, it is not ice 2 only easy to introduce the cigarette into the snuftingtube, but it is also easy to get the cigarette out again no matter how short the butt, merely by turning the matchbook upside down. Inasmuch as one end of the snufng tube is substantially closed, the snuffng tube can also be used as a temporary ash tray. The presence of ashes in the snuing tube will in no way impair its function, but on the contrary will improve its action by plugging up any tiny crevices at the closed end of the tube through which air ymight enter.

Referring now to the drawings, Figure 1 shows a perspective view of a matchbook constructed according to my invention. The matchbook 10 has a cover 12 made out of a single strip of cardboard, having an upper wider end andva lowerr narrow end 16. A striking surface `18, is arranged in the usual way adjacent the lower `end 16 of the cover 12, and the match pads 20 which tie together the lower ends of the matches 22 are stapled to the cover 12 by a staple 24 extending through both the front portion 26 and the rear portion 28 of the lower end of the cover 12. In conventional matchbooks, the lower end of cover 12 is, of course, merely folded around the bottom edge 30 of match pads 20. According to my invention, however, the cover 12 is formed into a tubular bulge 32 which is generally tangential to the lower edge 30 of match pads 20 as shown in Figure 3. Except for the tubular bulge in the cover 12 at the bottom of the matchbook 10, the construction of the matchbook is quite conventional. The tube 32 formed by this bulge in the cover 12 is closed at one end by a plug 34 but is open at the end 36.

Figure 2 shows a section of the snuifer with a cigarette butt deposited therein. Even though the plug 34 is by no means airtight, it obstructs the tube 32 to a sufficient degree that the combustion products of the cigarette 38 will rapidly accumulate in the end 40 of tube 32. In a matter of a very few seconds, these combustion products prevent oxygen from reaching the end 40 of tube 32, and the cigarette will therefore go out almost instantly. While I lhave not found it to be necessary, it will be understood that whenever an added precaution is deemed desirable the interior of tube 32 may be coated with metal foil or otherwise treated to inhibit combustion. Inasmuch as no compressing of the ashes or of the cigarette is necessary to extinguish the cigarette, it can be removed and re-lit if desired without diculty and without presenting a distasteful appearance. During the snuthng process, the matchbook is preferably turned so that the plug 34 faces down and the axis of the tube 32 is vertical. In order to remove the cigarette 38 after it is snuifed, or in order to remove any ashes which may have been deposited in the tube 32, it is merely necessary to invert the matchbook.

Another feature of my invention is that the match book when in closed condition will readily stand on one side. When one is attempting to place the lit cigarette in the snuier tube any accidental touching of the closure hap by the lit end of the cigarette will not ignite the matches within the book. It is not necessary to have the flap in open condition for supporting the book and snuifer tube in a vertical condition. Further with the match book and tube standing in a vertical condition and the flap closed the upper edge of the match book may be used as a guide to lead the user of the tube by virtue of the fact of feeling the gradual narrowing of the upper edge.

It will be readily seen that I have provided a simple, effective and safe cigarette snuffer and temporary ash tray which can be formed as a part of a matchbook during the manufacture thereof and is therefore extremely cheap to produce. Furthermore, the easy imprintability and large area of my cardboard snuffer make it particularly attractive to advertisers. The value of the additional adrventising space, as well as the usefulness of my device far outweigh the insignificant extra cost, if any, yofproducing the matchbook of this invention as compared to a conventional matchbook.

`Other *methodsy of making; my i snuffer will greadily:sug gest themselves to `thoseslrilled,inthe,art-withoutdeparting from the Aspirit of thisinvention.V Itherefor e `do not desire to be limited by the embodiment*shownherein.

Having thus `described the invention, rwhatis claimed and desired to-be secured by Letters Patents-is:

1. The combination of a suppOrt vmid*arsnuffer tube, the support comprising a match book of the Vtype, having a body with one `relatively wideend anda relatively :narrow end when in closed condition, the snuergtubefcom- .prising a cylindrical tubehaving -a.lengthcoextensivewith the width of the;matchbook,and integral y,vifithjtllenarrow end, the .vertical axis, ofythe-.tubebeing in .the maior ymedialplane of the matchbookwhen-,the support-and tube Iarestandirigon asidemeans closing onegendof the tube with the other end beingopen, the tubehavingan interior cross-sectional area slightly larger than the cross-sectional area of a cigarette so as to receive a cigarette therein without binding, the configuration off the match book when standing on a side in closed condition acting as a guide means to lead the user to the snufI'er tube.

2. The combination as set forth in claim 1 wherein the match book has one ixed side and a movable side serving as a cover for the matches and which is intended when closed to act as a protector for the matches against accidental contact with the burning end of a cigarette.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,764,862 Vogelsang June 17, 1930 2,101,593 Osborn Dec. 7, 1937 2,126,015 Howland Aug. 9, 1938 2,771,886 Miller et al Nov. 27, 1956 :FOREIGN PATENTS `366,751 Germany 1an. 11, 1923 

